There has been much rumbling from various sources that the FDA intends to ban certain nutritional supplements from being sold in the US because they are being misused (overdosed) by those that take them or because they have unsafe properties. Largely I believe that the individual should determine for themselves if they wish to take the supplement and the individual should be responsible for following the dosage guidelines which by law should be posted clearly on the bottle. The government cannot always protect people from themselves.

There are of course certain exceptions to this where the FDA should be more active in testing and banning substances. For instance one exception should be when a product is tainted.

Most people by now are aware of the very many scandals in China surrounding the intentional tainting with melamine and lead of food and nutritional supplements. Both of melamine and lead are deadly when ingested by humans. But many are not aware that most of the vitamin C sold in this country comes from China. The vitamin C and other imported substances are not sufficiently monitored and tested for purity before being repackaged and sold to unsuspecting Americans.

In my opinion, this is a huge accident waiting to happen. I know of several people poisoned by tainted tryptophan from Japan and one person suffering from lead poisoning due to a tainted Ayurvedic product from India. Their lives have been very compromised by their poisoning.

There have been instances of poisoning within the US and from other trade partners, but the instances of tainted products emerging from China is taking epic proportions.

A list of the articles on this subject could fill many pages. We, as US citizens, should petition our government to crack down further on these imports and have the FDA do more testing for poisons especially in supplements. I wonder also why the US cannot manufacture more of its own components for vitamins and nutritional products. I hope that readers of this blog will call the manufacturers of the supplements that they use to ask if the components come from China. I further hope that readers will email their Congressional representatives in the House and Senate and demand to be protected from these poisons in their foods and supplements and other products.